William Nutbean

Mr William Nutbean

Mr William Nutbean was born in Southampton on 16 September 1881 1 the son of William Lionel Nutbean and Georgina James. At the time of his birth they were unmarried. They would wed in Southampton in early 1884.

When he signed-on to the Titanic, on 6th April 1912, he gave his address as the Sportsman's Arms, High St., (Southampton). He transferred to the Titanic from the Parana. He received monthly wages of £6.

On 10th April 1912 he had been drinking with his watch-mate John Podesta as well as the Slade brothers Alfred, Bertram and Thomas Slade and trimmer Penney. Nutbean and Podesta just made it to the Titanic as she prepared to sail but the Slades and Penney were left behind when a passing train blocked their path.

On 14th April Podesta and William Nutbean went off duty at 8 p.m. and later had supper in the messroom. As they left the messroom they hear the ship's lookouts cry "Ice ahead, sir!" Podesta and Nutbean went out on deck to look around, but saw nothing. They went back inside and down to their bunkroom, where they talked together for a little while before turning in. Podesta later said that the lookouts repeated their ice warnings to the bridge several times, but to no avail.

When the collision occurred Podesta and Nutbean tried unsuccessfully to get other crewmen out of bed, but soon Boatswain Nicholls came in and ordered everyone to their boat stations. Podesta and Nutbean went on deck and helped to lower lifeboat 7. Later Murdoch told the two men to lower themselves down the falls into a lifeboat (? lifeboat 3), after which he ordered the boat to remain close by in case it had to return to the ship. The boat was 500 yards from the ship when she went down. The boat was later picked up by the Carpathia, and Podesta and Nutbean did their best to help revive some of their half-frozen mates. The surviving crewmen later returned to England on the Lapland.

Nutbean continued at sea after the Titanic. Ships he served on included the E J Reddy, Almanzora, Briton, Bayeskimo, Majestic, Brandenberg, Orca, Nictheroy, Metagma, Alcantara, Arlanza, Empress of Canada, Saxon, Andes, Berengaria and Braemar Castle.

He died in Southampton in 1947, at 65, (registered as ''William Nutbeam''

Notes

His birth was registered as William James in late 1881 in Sherbourne, Dorset.